[SJRA-Members] EZNEC Now Available as Free Download

[Bob Beyer]

We had some discussion about this in a recent FRC Zoom meeting. As Rick
said, Roy W7EL has decided to retire and is making EZNEC Pro/2 V6.0 free.
However, there is still a version of Roy's program only for purchase.  This
is EZNEC Pro/4.

Curiously, even though he has retired, he is already saying that he is
working on Pro/2 V7.0.  The website is not 100% clear to me whether he will
also offer this for free or not but it seems to imply he will. He says that
V7.0 will have the ability to use the NEC-4.2 and NEC-5 computing engines
(code) to run calculations. This ability was previously only available with
EZNEC Pro/4.  From looking over Roy's FAQ page for EZNEC, this appears to be
the primary, if not only, difference between the Pro/2 and Pro/4 versions.
Pro/4 actually --requires-- the NEC-4.2 engine (though it may also support
NEC-5), and does not come with the free NEC-2 embedded as Pro/2 does.

https://www.eznec.com/ez60faq.html

For those like me who are new to antenna modeling, NEC is an acronym for
Numerical Electromagnetics Code, not the National Electrical Code governing
electrical wiring.  Two things having to do with electricity, same acronym,
no confusion there.

NEC was written by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory.  NEC-2 has been released for free public use.  Versions beyond
this require the purchase of a license.  NEC-2 is sufficient for the
majority of ham radio uses but has a couple of minor, though notable,
limitations.  Of particular note is its lack of accurate modeling for wires
on, in, or near very near the ground.  This includes things such as radials
for vertical antennas or near-ground antennas such as the Beverage, BOG, and
LOG (Beverage on ground, loop on ground).  NEC-4 and NEC-5 solve this issue
with new mathematical algorithms to accurately model such wires and wire
segments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_Electromagnetics_Code

By default, EZNEC comes with the NEC-2 computing engine embedded within its
code.  You can run it as-is and model antennas.  The ability to connect to
NEC-4 or NEC-5 gives the user better, more accurate modeling, especially for
near-ground wires.

NEC-3, NEC-4, and NEC-5 remain the intellectual property of Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratories and the University of California which is
why it requires a paid license.  Licenses for NEC-5 cost $110 for an
individual and $1,200 for a small business.

https://ipo.llnl.gov/technologies/it-and-communications/nec-v50-numerical-el
ectromagnetic-code

If you are thinking of getting into antenna modeling (as I am), my
suggestion would be to download the now free version of EZNEC Pro/2 V6.0 and
experiment before you decide if you will want a license for the NEC-5
computing engine to use in conjunction with EZNEC Pro/2 V7.0 (not yet
available).

EZNEC is not the only antenna modeling software available.  There are other
options available but most of them also rely on an embedded version of the
NEC-2 code.  There is at least one exception to this; a program called
MiniNEC. This uses the same principles but the mathematical algorithms are
unique, original code and not a copy of NEC-2.  Other than MiniNEC, you can
think of the various version of the antenna modeling software as a sort of
presentation layer (or user front end) for inputting info to and getting
results from the NEC engine.

73,
Bob - KE2D


-----Original Message-----
From: sjra-members-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:sjra-members-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Richard Lawn
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2022 12:31 PM
To: SJRA LIST
Subject: [SJRA-Members] EZNEC Now Available as Free Download

For those of you interested in antenna modeling software, it was just
announced that the creator of EZNEC is retiring and has decided to stop
selling his software, but is making it available for FREE!

EZNEC Antenna Software by W7EL


https://www.eznec.com/

73

Rick, W2JAZ
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